Europa League

Zenit 3 - Real Sociedad 1

Zenit: Lunev; Criscito, Ivanovic, Mevlja, Mammana; Kranevitter, Kuzyaev, Paredes (Dzyuba 88’); Rigoni (Erokhin 73’); Driussi (Poroz 80’), Kokorin. 4-3-3.
Real Sociedad: Rulli; Odriozola, Aritz Elustondo, Diego Llorente, De la Bella; Xabi Prieto (Juanmi 64’), Rubén Pardo (Illarramendi 74‘), Zurutuza; Canales, Jon Bautista (Willian José 61’), Janujaz. 4-3-3.

Goals:
1-0. 05. Rigoni. Intercepted bad Pardo pass and fired long shot past keeper.
2-0. 23. Kokorin. Ran ball in to empty net after long punt bounced over Rulli.
2-1. 41. Llorente. Header past Lunev from Canales cross following short corner.
3-1. 60. Kokorin. Steered header back across Rulli from long Ivanovic centre.

Yellow cards: None.

Real Sociedad’s good start to the season seems to be already a thing of the past, and they fell to their fourth defeat in a row in all competitions. Zenit took advantage of defensive mistakes to go two up in the first quarter of the game, Rigoni intercepting a poor pass by Rubén Pardo to open the scoring, and Rulli coming out of his area and completely misjudging a bouncing ball, allowing Kokorin to run through and score in to an empty net. Diego Llorente headed one back following a short corner just before the break, but Kokorin headed in an Ivanovic centre to wrap things up on the hour mark.